This was a weekend to remember! Let me catch you up….North Creek is about to purchase a building…but not just any building. A building with profound roots and memories for us as a church….We are buying the first building we rented nine years ago, fondly called “The Bar”. (Pause and read this story from 6 years ago if you’re not familiar: https://www.stacynewell.com/2011/08/31/standing-on-holy-ground/) With it also comes the back building which will house our children’s ministry, office space, and the upper auditorium. We will also be adding a foyer to connect the two buildings and doing a MASSIVE reno as it is in dire need (that may be an understatement).
We were previously there for about five years and now have been gone for four, but my memories of that place are all filled with joy…a joy that marks the best years of ministry for us and a joy I am happy to return to.
On Sunday night we hosted a worship and prayer dedication service in the building. The weeds are overtaking the lot, the pavement is crumbling, the wooden awnings are all falling under years of rot, there was no fancy lighting, not even a trash can, but only the praise of our people spilling out of the open door and onto the desperate ears of those passing on Hwy 99. It could not have been more perfect.
This is a full circle journey for us as the last four years away from the bar have been full of challenges and transitions. We have endured one difficult story after the other, but now…now in the unexpecting story of a surprising Father, we find ourselves standing back at the point where we had been so long ago: full of hope, full of anticipation, full of direction. In the musty air of a building that has been sitting empty, I could feel my lungs fill with the refreshing breath of God.
We are going home.
